This crafts walkthrough stays in the order the work happens.
I love me a good home design magazine… and I wish this post were an announcement that I am being featured in one (like my friend Roeshel just announced! Way to go Roeshel!). Alas, it is just me talking about reading magazines, but still, I can retain the being featured dream.
Anyway, I was reading my May edition of Country Living magazine and they had the greatest all-natural bug spray recipe that I HAD to try my hand at making.
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So I went to the store and bought my essential oils, lemongrass, eucalyptus and citronella oil, which can be found at any health food store. I purchased the witch hazel at Walmart, cuz the specialty store’s version was $12 dollars ($1.44 at Wally world by the way! Score!).
The article also had a great link to some striking glass bottles… but let’s get real here – this is a kid-friendly house and metal or plastic is better. What I ended up finding were some tiny 2 oz spray bottles in the travel bins at Walmart too. They were about a buck. (and technically they hold about 4 ounces)
Important note: I’ve learned a bit since this post first published a few years back, and, as convenient and low-cost as plastic bottles are, they aren’t good for long-term storage for essential oils (and metal containers can react with some oils or blends). Glass bottles are best, and you can get them pretty darn low-cost here on Amazon.
Homemade Natural Bug Spray Recipe
Ingredients
3 1 ⁄2 ounces (which is basically 1/3 cup) of Witch Hazel
1 ⁄2 teaspoon Lemongrass Oil
1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon Eucalyptus Oil
1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon Citronella Oil
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a small four-ounce spray bottle. Country Living had a great source for low-cost: an amber glass mister for $1.07 at Specialtybottle.com — this 6 pack is similarly priced, or this 12-pack is even cheaper per bottle!
When you use it, be sure to shake the bottle contents before spraying (You can see in the picture below how the oils separate from the witch hazel) p.s. It smells divine!
Since the weather has been nice enough to enjoy, we’ve spent a lot of time outside. I had to show these funny pictures. We got the girls new bathing suits. The tops are fine but the bottoms don’t fit at all. Oh well, they were wearing diapers anyway. But I had to get some low rider pictures before I helped Lydia cuz it was so funny!
Let me know what you think if you make it!
What have you all been up to lately?
More options for your summer:
A collection of The Best Outdoor Projects to Handmade this summer
7 Ways to Get Your Patio Ready for Summer
